1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical mounting for an optical component and more particularly to a high-precision optical mounting.
2. Discussion of Relevant Prior Art
Particularly high requirements are placed on optical mountings for satellite-borne systems. Low weight and high mechanical and thermal loading are required, with precise, stress-free mounting of the optical components. Examples of known solutions in this field of use are given in German Patent DE 296 03 024.4 U, and the state of the art cited therein.
Another field with particularly high requirements is microlithography. The projection exposure systems require the closest tolerances and the smallest strains, even in the presence of thermal effects, in order to attain extremes of imaging quality.
Metallic mountings are usually used in both fields of application, and are produced by machining in the broadest sense, including erosion, water-stream cutting grinding, laser ablation and the like. Spring hinges and beams are then used in many variants as decoupling elements.
Galvanoplasty is a known technique for the production of thin-walled precision parts, even mirror optics, for example. Metal, usually aluminum or nickel or their alloys, is electrolytically deposited on a mold core that has been made electrically conductive with a thin layer. After the desired thickness has been reached, the galvanoplastic part is released from the mold core, using a difference in thermal expansion.
It is known from East German Patent DD 204 320 A to provide a lens with a positively fitting ring by galvanoplastic means, the ring being finish-turned for the centering of the lens and having surfaces by means of which the lens is received in a mounting. The closed ring, when thermally loaded, inevitably leads to stresses in the lens, due to the different thermal expansion.
The object of the invention is a high-precision mounting, which makes possible an optimum decoupling of the mounted optical component from stresses. A further object of the invention is to provide a favorable production process for the mounting.
These objects are attained with an optical mounting and a process having the following features:
An optical mounting for an optical component, comprising an inner portion abutting the optical component, an outer frame, and a plurality of galvanoplastically-produced spring hinge beams connecting together the inner portion and the outer frame.
A process for production of an optical mounting with spring hinge beams, includes placing a base for at least one portion of an optical mounting in an electrochemical apparatus and forming at least a portion of the optical mounting by galvanoplastic deposition.
The use of galvanoplasty makes it possible to produce a very delicate mounting with the greatest reproducible accuracy in few processing steps.
Electrochemical deposition is simultaneously used as a jointing technique for adhesive-free connection to the mounted optical part, and for integration of a solid part with a cross section that would be produced uneconomically by galvanoplasty.